The Wife of President Lincoln
It has been said that “Behind every man, is a great woman.”. Abraham Lincoln was a great man, but who was the woman that stood behind him? According to biographer Jean Harvey Baker “ Mary Lincoln ranks among the most detested public women in American history.”( http://www.mtlhouse.org/history.html) Mary Todd Lincoln was known as being insane, depressed, and hopeless. This former first lady was known as a depressed and crazy women, but what was her life like before her husband and son’s death? Mary was a perfectly normal person, and had every right to feel the way she felt after her husband and sons deaths. I Feel like it is important to know Lincoln's wife because how could such a powerful man decide to marry such a woman?
The Hunt for the Identity of Mary Todd Lincoln
I started off by using the internet and searching for Mary Todd Lincoln. Then I went to search in the Library, and found a book called “The Life and Writings of Abraham Lincoln”. This book provided some key information and primary sources. The book was filled with past letters written by Lincoln to his wife. A problem that I ran into was finding enough information to answer my “RTQ” questions. I wanted to make sure that I had full answers and for the most part, the answers were surface level, and not as deep and descriptive as I wanted. I overcame this obstacle by looking deeper in the book that I checked out, and also searching online for more information. Before I wrote this paper, I assumed that Mary Todd was crazy and psychotic after her husband's death. I thought that she became mentally ill and no one wanted anything to do with her. But it turns out that I was completely wrong. Mary Todd had every right to be depressed and mentally unstable. It would make sense that she would feel that way, especially when she witnessed her husband getting shot in front of her. The help that I had along the way were my teachers.
A normal Life
Mary Todd was born in Lexington, Kentucky, December 13, 1818. She was the fourth of seven children and had three brothers and three sisters, Elizabeth Todd Edwards (1813-1888), Frances "Fanny" Todd Wallace (1815-1899), Levi O. Todd (1817-1865), Robert P. Todd (1820-1822), Ann Todd Smith (1824-1891) and George Rogers Clark Todd (1825-1900). She was 5’2”, had blue eyes and reddish-brown hair. Her father Robert Smith Todd was a merchant, lawyer and officer in the War of 1812. Her mother Eliza Ann Parker was born 1794 and married Robert Todd in 1812, November 26. Mary Todd was born into a normal family, and had a regular life. She had no form of mental illness and had no record of being abnormal from everyone else.
She went to Shelby Female Academy, from 1826-1832. Later the school was known as Dr. Ward's Academy where she studied grammar, geography, arithmetic, poetry, and literature. Mary read daily and nightly, she loved to read. She excelled in school and loved to learn. “Far in advance over other girls in education; she had a retentive memory and mind that enabled her to grasp and learn the lesson she was required to learn” (Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography By Jean Harvey Baker) Mary was a great student, and loved to learn new things. She was one of the smartest in her class. Then she went to Madame Mentelle's Boarding School from 1832-1837 and learned to speak and write French, and learned penmanship, dancing and singing.
With her schooling finished, in 1839 Mary moved to Springfield so she could live with her sister, Elizabeth Todd Edwards. While in Springfield Mary and her future husband Abraham Lincoln moved in the same social circle and met at a dance at her sister's home in Springfield, Illinois. They had an "on-again, off-again courtship." Abe Proposed to her and loved her very muchand having doubts about his love for Mary, Abe called off their wedding. Abe's backing out of the wedding they had planned for January 1, 1841 was difficult for both of them. Finally on 1842, November 4 when she was 23 years old she and Abe were married in in the front parlor of the home of Mary Todd's sister Elizabeth and her husband Ninian Edwards, Springfield, Illinois. By all indications, the Lincolns were in love. As Abe said about Mary, "My wife is as handsome as when she was a girl, and I a poor nobody then, fell in love with her, and what is more, I have”. Mary was a very lovable woman and had a home in Abe’s heart. If anything she is an amazing person, and not a psycho. Considering that Abe called off the wedding, then feels like this, shows how normal of a person she is.
For the first two years of their marriage, the Lincolns lived at the Globe Tavern in Springfield, Illinois. In 1844, they purchased their first and only home at Eight and Jackson Streets in Springfield. They had four sons; Robert Todd Lincoln (1843-1926), Edward Baker Lincoln (1846-1850), William "Willie" Wallace Lincoln (1850-1862), Thomas "Tad" Lincoln (1853-1871).
During the early 1880s, Mary Lincoln was confined to the Springfield, Illinois residence of her sister Elizabeth Edwards. On July 16, 1882, she collapsed at her sister's home and lapsed into a coma. She died at age 63. She was interred in the Lincoln Tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield alongside her husband. Mary Todd Lincoln went through so much losing her husband to an assassin and also losing her son. Wouldn’t that make you depressed too?
Citations
Baker, Jean H. Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography. New York: Norton, 1987.
-This is a secondary source of Mary Todd Lincoln and some of the letters that she wrote to Abraham Lincoln. I used this to give more information about Mary and Abe's Relationship
"History." Mary Todd Lincoln House. Accessed May 29, 2015.
http://www.mtlhouse.org/history.html.
-This is a book, a secondary source showing the power and the letters written back and fourth from Abraham to his wife.
"First Lady Biography: Mary Lincoln." Mary Lincoln Biography. Accessed May 29, 2015.
Stritroff, Sheri. "Issues and Problems in Mary and Abraham Lincoln's Marriage." About. 2015. Accessed May 29, 2015. http://marriage.about.com/od/presidentialmarriages/a/abelincoln_2.htm.
